Its taken me a little while to find this. I stumbled across the poncho while researching something else. Ive had this poncho and hootchie for so long I actually forgotten the brand, but I still think its the best poncho I have ever owned. Worth checking out. The basha I own is also the Swack Shack. I still haven’t used a Helikon Tex Poncho as a comparison but have owned most others on the market.
Will be taking this and testing on my intermediate course in a few weeks. I figure with the weather changing itll be a good chance to test it aswell as a back up if it gets too cold. I can either wrap up in it or use the zip configuration and pull it up over my sleeping bag for extra warmth. I have the adaptive green color and have a taiga green poncho on order with survival supplies. The poncho I generally use is over sized and wont fit the swagman roll grommets.I usually carry this in my GHB.
I touched on a Marlin Spike Hitch briefly when using a Truckers Hitch, however I neglected to make it an addition to the original 25 knot system. Where Ive started using it more is for tent pegs. I wanted a quick release knot to use in emergency shelters when incorporating a reflective blanket as a lean-to. The bottom eyelets weren’t quite large enough to place a peg straight through the eye. So using a Marlin Spike meant i could still get a peg close to the grommet but didn’t have to tie a knot I couldn’t undo at a later stage. makes it number 29 of bush knots to learn .
Uses : Hammock, hand holds, ladder, tent pegs, T handle for dragging, hanging your pack, quick deploy ridge-lines,
How to Tie
Hammock Suspension
Ladder
Different knots from a marlin spike and applications
This is something I haven’t tried yet. I’m not sure how often I would actually use this skill. I own two Bedourie Camp ovens that I would use more often to cook in, but I like the idea of adapting other equipment and a zebra Billy can I always have around and is easy to pack. The bush Pot I own and usually carry for cooking in when camping I can see the use for baking bread in when having limited or minimal equipment.
There are many edible fruit and berries along with nuts and seeds and vegetables> Ive been eating alot of MEAKITCH’ SOUTHERN KANGAROO APPLE (Solanum laciniatum) lately and have settled on growing TETRAGONIA tetragonoides Native Spinach, Warrigal Greens, New Zealand Spinach. I am still looking into growing the below plants.
Kangaroo Apple
Alpinia caerulea native ginger
CAPPARIS lasiantha Native Orange
CISSUS hypoglauca Native Grape
COPROSMA quadrifida Native Currant
IPOMOEA costata Native Potato or Desert Yam
NITRARIA billardierei Native Grape
PASSIONFRUIT Passiflora herbertiana Native Passion Fruit
Ive been continuing my research into different seeds to purchase for my seed bank and after finding out that garlic can only be grown from a bulb, came across Ramsons. Whats cooking without some sort of garlic or substitute. It should have occurred to me I have always grown garlic from bulbs but had assumed you could find them as a seed head. Not so. Ive been trying to keep away from any plant that I have to grow from a bulb preferring to store heirloom seeds. I’m starting to look more into native plants that are easy to grow and provide high yield.
Wild garlic is an attractive spring-flowering perennial which may be grown for both ornamental and culinary uses.
Allium ursinum, commonly called wild garlic or ramsons, is a bulbous perennial that is native to damp shaded woods in Europe and northern Asia. It produces small rounded bulbs on branched rhizomes.
Each year, leaves appear in late winter, flowers bloom in spring, and seeds mature by mid-summer at which point the plants die back and go dormant until the following late winter.
Each plant bears 2-3 distinctive, elliptic, linear, deep green basal leaves somewhat reminiscent of the leaves of lily-of-the-valley. If bruised or crushed, the foliage emits a strong onion/garlic-like aroma. Flattened, 2-inch diameter, loose umbels of star-shaped white flowers bloom in spring atop leafless stems rising to 6-12″ (less frequently to 18″) tall. Each umbel bears 15-20 flowers. Leaves and flowers may be eaten raw (salads) or cooked (addition to soups, sauces or stews). Leaf flavor begins to decline as the flowers begin to bloom. Underground bulbs can also be eaten raw or cooked.
Specific epithet comes from Latin ursus meaning bear in reference to the proclivity of bears to dig up and eat these bulbs in the wild.
An additional common name for this plant is bear’s garlic. Common name of ramsons is from Middle English ramsyn.
The Bibbulmun Track is a long-distance walking trail in Western Australia. It runs from Kalamunda in the east of Perth to Albany, and is approximately 1,000 kilometers long.
When your first told your terminal they make you write out a list of things yourd like to do if you make it through the other end. One of my items was to walk the Bibbulmun Track in WA. I still haven’t gotten there, my health goes up and down like a yo-yo every time I get a bug and most of my training courses have been on the east coast.
It was researching the thousand kilometer trek that made me realize how futile bugging out would be. Dont get me wrong I believe in having a 1 day bag, a 3 day bag and a 10 day bag for emergencies but to rely on a knapsack to live out of just wont happen.
To trek a thousand kilometers you require food drops and a minimal calorie intake of 3000 calories a day to keep up a 10 to 15 kilometer distance per day. Bugging out is great if you have some where to go that is already set up but with out some where to go you’ll require enough food to last three months with a calorie intake to start a garden and set up adequate shelter. The Alone television show is a good example. They haven’t succeeded in setting up a sustainable system with enough food, its about who takes the longest to starve.
I’m dedicating this year to finishing off training courses and trying to put back on the ten kilo Ive lost in the past year. Then using the next year to get back into rehab and train for the hike. Id like to try and organize sponsors so I’m not only hiking a track but also raising awareness for Transplant Donation and maybe raise money for depression.
Written as a novel and not as a text book for starters. I’m sitting here trying to think of other books that have I reread more times than this one and Dune by Frank Herbert is the only one that comes to mind. Every-time I sit down and read this book I have to keep a note pad with me. The amount of ideas, research matter. inspiration for learning.ideas for articles that I have found between the pages.
The overview is why he became interested in prepping and the lessons and journey he takes into that world. Starting with seeing through apocalypse eyes to noticing the corruption around him and going into history. This book actually started my journey into studying history. Such as with questions. “Why didn’t the Jews leave Nazi Germany”? Funnily enough years after reading this book I’m now living the same or well similar circumstances of Pre-Nazi Germany and the mentality of the people on many levels.
Through the realization that his country cant protect him after Hurricane Katrina and similar events.With research from writing articles for the NY Times with such headings as Birthday Clowns to Avoid and tips on Death Cult Etiquette, you stay amused through the chapters.
You get to page 65 when he explores what happens to the reaction of people to 9/11 by page 88 your looking into the laws that the US passed. Similar to here in Australia that no one noticed or assumed they could never be used against them. A very eye opening section that started me looking into Australian laws. The second half of the book details his run to learning from tracking , shooting, having a back up plan to learning blades and how to kill and butcher a goat.Becoming part of the circle of life!
I try to put every prepper I meet onto this book because I can see their all runners. Running from fear. The last third of this book the author stops running from life and runs to it. Hes learnt to be a EMT and search and rescue and hes no longer running and in fear hes running toward something. This is a lesson I want every prepper to learn. Skills negate the fear! Id really like to see a sequel after this longer time and see if hes kept up with it all.
I read this book some months ago and just flicked though it quickly to start this review while I was in the mood for writing. I don’t know who comes up with the titles for these books. They usually have nothing to do with the contents of the books. They should have called it Basic Bushcraft Course or something similar. This book probably outlines a basic training course and then some in one of the most intricate and detailed references to date. Dont worry about getting any other bushcraft books for your first bushcraft learning book. Get this one first, is all I can say. Id like to see more books by the same author. An intermediate and advanced bushcraft training manual , a plant identification reference and uses and especially an entire book dedicated to practical wilderness medicine. More knowledge in one book than any other 5 books Ive read on the same subjects and in a down to earth descriptions and practical use of the subject matter.
